From 3-star SEC signee to the NFL Draft: Marcell Dareus, Alabama

SDS will count down the 31 biggest overachievers of the SEC, at least as far as their recruiting rankings go. We’ll take a look at two and three-star prospects coming out of high school who became NFL Draft picks in 2011, 2012 and 2013 … finishing up the end of the month with the five who became first-round draft picks. Find out which stars from your school defied the recruiting rankings coming out of high school.

Here’s a day-by-day ‘month of May’ look at who ignored their recruiting rankings and went on to get drafted in the NFL.

No. 1 – Marcell Dareus, DT, Alabama

H.S. RANKING: Three-stars in 2008, No. 28 defensive tackle in America.NFL DRAFT: 1st round, No. 3 overall by Buffalo in 2011COLLEGE STATS: Had 3 seasons with the Crimson Tide, he had 71 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and 11 sacks, along with 20 quarterback hurries.NFL STATS: In 3 NFL seasons, Dareus has started 45 games out of 48 he has appeared in, notching 18.5 sacks and 153 tackles, along with 10 passes defensed.THE SKINNY: Coming out of Huffman H.S. in Birmingham, Dareus seriously considered Auburn, Alabama and North Carolina, taking official visits to all three. In college, he didn’t even become a full-time starter until his junior season, yet as a sophomore he was named the defensive MVP of the 2009 national championship game. Dareus was a pro bowler in 2013 after an NFL season that saw him finished with 71 tackles and 7.5 sacks.

Editor’s note: For this particular series, Saturday Down South’s references to recruiting rankings are to Rivals.com’s version, as the 247Sports.com industry composite didn’t exist when many of these NFL Draft Picks were coming out of high school. Rivals has ranked high school prospects since 2002.